Treasure Coast - Monday November 7, 2022: The Treasure Coast is under a Hurricane Watch, along with much of the rest of Florida’s southeast coast, as sub-tropical Storm named Nicole is heads our way.
Hurricane Watches went up Monday morning. Landfall is expected anywhere between Miami and Cape Canaveral by Wednesday evening or early Thursday morning.
“We do have hurricane watches up right now so we could potentially see hurricane force winds, probably Category 1,"said Jessie Smith, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Melbourne. "So that would be at least 74 MPH when it makes landfall," but wind speeds beyond 74 MPH are not expected.
Acting National Hurricane Center Director Jamie Rhome also said that at this time, at worst, Nicole will be a weak hurricane.
“We’re not forecasting a major hurricane," said Rhome. "We’re not forecasting rapid intensification at this time. We think because its very large that it’s going to strengthen slowly as it approaches the Florida peninsula and potentially impact the Florida Peninsula as a top end tropical storm or a bottom end hurricane, a category 1 hurricane.”
However, Rhome emphasized because the storm is so large, it must be taken seriously and the biggest threat is coastal flooding, and storm surge could range from 2 feet to as high as 5 feet throughout the east coast.
“We’re at the time of year when tides generally run high. So, when you have Nicole with this big large wind field and all this onshore flow pushing water towards the coastline in advance, the potential for coastal flooding exists for a large portion of the eastern coast of the Florida peninsula.”
VIEW NHC Director Rhome's Monday briefing in FULL here> https://fb.watch/gF98V52YOQ/
Treasure Coast residents should have their preparations in place no later than sundown Tuesday, Election Day.